Mayor’s Office for People with Disabilities – BGA Policy 2025 Budget Snapshot

Departmental Highlights

Snapshot: Appropriation & Staffing Changes from 2024 Budget

• MOPD eliminated a Director of Administration position and added a Director of Finance. The department's budgeted career placement counselor positions were reduced from five to four, while a second architect position was added.
• As with several other departments, MOPD's largest listed appropriation this year is a $5.7 million "reserve balance" appropriation from a variety of grant funds. This appropriation, which appears in several department's budgets and has been retroactively added to 2024 appropriations data as well, was not used in the previous year's budget at the time of its passage. BGA Policy has reached out to the Office of Budget and Management for clarification of this appropriation's purpose and has not yet received a reply.
• Apart from the reserve balance with its retroactive negative 2024 appropriation, salaries and wages on payroll and software maintenance and licensing saw the largest net increases from the previous year's budget.
• An "indirect costs" appropriation was eliminated entirely, while third-party spending through the delegate agencies and professional and technical services appropriations saw the largest net reductions from the previous year's budget.
• As of October 28, 2024, when the new ARPA dashboard and associated datasets were made available, MOPD had $9.8 million in allocated ARPA funds, of which $7.5 million had been obligated and $3.3 million had been spent.

Historical Context

From 2011-2024, MOPD's budget grew at an average rate of 17.8% per year, driven in large part by increases beginning in the Lightfoot administration and accelerating dramatically during the COVID-19 pandemic when federal relief funding became available. Departmental budgets overall increased an average of 6.1% per year over the same time period, while the total city budget including Finance General appropriations grew at an average rate of 8.5% annually.

The department's budgeted workforce grew at a rate of roughly 1.6% annually from 2011-2024. Overall budgeted positions for the city remained relatively flat across the same time period, with minor year-to-year fluctuations averaging out to an overall growth rate of 0.04%.

Staffing

MOPD eliminated a Director of Administration position and added a Director of Finance. The department's budgeted career placement counselor positions were reduced from five to four, while a second architect position was added.

Appropriations

MOPD relies on a hybrid of funding, drawing roughly equal appropriation totals from the CDBG, pandemic recovery, and corporate funds both this year and last, as well as smaller amounts from other federal and local grants.

Largest Appropriations

As with several other departments, MOPD's largest listed appropriation this year is a $5.7 million "reserve balance" appropriation from a variety of grant funds. This appropriation, which appears in several department's budgets and has been retroactively added to 2024 appropriations data as well, was not used in the previous year's budget at the time of its passage. BGA Policy has reached out to the Office of Budget and Management for clarification of this appropriation's purpose and has not yet received a reply.

MOPD's next-largest appropriation account is for delegate agencies, which passes through spending to third parties who provide services to individuals on behalf of the city. Salaries and wages follow closely, with all other appropriation accounts making up a much smaller portion of the departmental budget.

Change from Previous Year

Apart from the reserve balance with its retroactive negative 2024 appropriation, salaries and wages on payroll and software maintenance and licensing saw the largest net increases from the previous year's budget.

An "indirect costs" appropriation was eliminated entirely, while third-party spending through the delegate agencies and professional and technical services appropriations saw the largest net reductions from the previous year's budget.

ARPA Allocations

The city budget does not typically break down budget appropriations to the programmatic level. However, this year the Office of Budget and Management has made available a new ARPA dashboard and associated datasets that detail the allocations, obligations, and expenditures made towards ARPA-funded programs.

As of October 28, 2024, when the datasets were made available, MOPD had $9.8 million in allocated ARPA funds, of which $7.5 million had been obligated and $3.3 million had been spent.

The Diverse Learners Recovery Fund allocation is almost entirely obligated but largely unspent, while the Management and Administration allocation has been roughly half spent, with the remainder still unallocated.

ARPA funds must be obligated by December 31, 2024. The city can obligate funds by entering a contract, order for services, or similar award or transaction; by entering into an interagency agreement; by dedicating the funds to certain personnel costs for positions that existed and were filled prior to December 31, 2024; or by using them to cover the legal or administrative costs of ARPA itself.

As of the October 28, 2024 data, the city had allocated roughly $1.9 billion in ARPA funds, of which 91.8%, roughly $1.7 billion, had been obligated.

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